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JavaScript JavaScript Loops, Arrays and Objects Tracking Data Using Objects The Student Record Search Challenge Solution

Keith Corona
Keith Corona
9,553 Points
Posted by Keith Corona
Keith Corona
9,553 Points

Why do we add the else statement in the while loop?

Hello all,

I have one question regarding the "else" portion of my code to print a message when there is no student to be found.

For a long while I had added my "else" statement in the for loop and continued to get the no student found message even when entering a listed student's name. I moved the "else" statement to where it is in the code below (in the while statement) and now the code works great. Why?

I thought that if the search didn't find the student's name, it would be best to return the no student found message. I don't get why the "else" statement works only in the while loop.

while (true) {
  search = prompt('Search student records: type a name [Jody] (or type "quit" to end)');
  if (search === null || search.toLowerCase() === 'quit') {
    break;
  } else {
      print(noStudent);
    }

  for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i += 1) {
    student = students[i];
    if ( search.toLowerCase() === student.name.toLowerCase() ) {
      message = getStudentReport( student );
      print(message);
    } 
  }

Full code below: 

var message = '';
var noStudent = 'No student found by that name';
var student;
var search;

function print (message) {
  var outputDiv = document.getElementById('output');
  outputDiv.innerHTML = message;
}

function getStudentReport( student ) {
  var report = '<h2>Name: ' + student.name + '</h2>';
  report += '<p>Track: ' + student.track + '</p>';
  report += '<p>Achievements: ' + student.achievements + '</p>';
  report += '<p>Points: ' + student.points + '</p>';
  return report;
}

while (true) {
  search = prompt('Search student records: type a name [Jody] (or type "quit" to end)');
  if (search === null || search.toLowerCase() === 'quit') {
    break;
  } else {
      print(noStudent);
    }

  for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i += 1) {
    student = students[i];
    if ( search.toLowerCase() === student.name.toLowerCase() ) {
      message = getStudentReport( student );
      print(message);
    } 
  }
}

3 Answers

Keith Corona
Keith Corona
9,553 Points
Keith Corona
Keith Corona
9,553 Points

Update:

For some reason, this morning the code works fine in both ways. Thank you to all who chimed in, I don't know what it malfunctioned last night, but it is all good now.

Mindaugas Kunevičius
Mindaugas Kunevičius
12,029 Points

How? I have the same problem, I believe it should work both ways, but it doesn't. My code is exactly the same...

Keith Corona
Keith Corona
9,553 Points
Keith Corona
Keith Corona
9,553 Points

Hello Mindaugas,

If you are using the Chrome browser, you might need to clear the cache. I don't know what happened for me, but when I tried my code both ways the day after posting this question, it worked as it should've.

chrisverra
chrisverra
3,760 Points
chrisverra
chrisverra
3,760 Points

That would work just fine, just add a String value to noStudent :)

Keith Corona
Keith Corona
9,553 Points
Keith Corona
Keith Corona
9,553 Points

In my original question post I had made the var noStudent = 'No student found by that name';, wouldn't this call it?

Each time I have tried putting the else keyword in the second if condition (inside the for loop), whatever name I enter in the prompt return the 'No student found by that name' result instead of posting the data for a student who should be found.

Jonathan Grieve
MOD
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 Points
Jonathan Grieve
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 Points

The else is actually part of the condition statement inside.

Else is a keyword designed to match all other possible conditions and works best with the elseif keyword. If all other conditions in an else statement are not met the code in the else keyword is run. :-)

Keith Corona
Keith Corona
9,553 Points
Keith Corona
Keith Corona
9,553 Points

Thank you for your response. So in the code here, why would adding the else keyword not run the code correctly? 

for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i += 1) {
    student = students[i];
    if ( search.toLowerCase() === student.name.toLowerCase() ) {
      message = getStudentReport( student );
      print(message);
    } 
  }

Example of code that doesn't work which I am referring to:

for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i += 1) {
    student = students[i];
    if ( search.toLowerCase() === student.name.toLowerCase() ) {
      message = getStudentReport( student );
      print(message);
    } else {
      print(noStudent);
    }
  }